Completing the Pass by Jeanette Murray

Author:Jeanette Murray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-04-28T13:00:47+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Preseason game one, and Josh had his head in a toilet.

Someone banged on the stall door and he choked out, “Just a sec,” before trying to quietly dry heave again. But, as he found out, there was no way to quietly dry heave. His eyes watered and his throat felt like it was on fire.

“There are about fifty guys who are standing just on the other side of this bathroom wall who think you’re in here taking a pregame shit and not puking your guts out.” Trey’s voice was low, but firm from the other side of the metal stall door. “Don’t show your fucking fear, man. Tell your stomach who’s boss and move on.”

Josh grumbled, but flushed and stood before opening the stall door to a pissed Trey. Or maybe not pissed so much as uneasy. It was in his team captain’s eyes . . . the concern that bubbled beneath the surface.

“It’s just preseason. You’ve done this four times before.” Trey started to clap him on the back, then let his hand hover a few inches above his shoulder. “Uh, rinse first. Then pep talk.”

Josh rolled his eyes, but went to the sink and did a quick rinse and hand wash before splashing his face with cold water. “It’s different.” He looked at Trey in the mirror. His teammate didn’t argue. “This time, it’s different. They’re looking at me like I’m going to lead a revolution. I’m not leading shit. I’m a Band-Aid over a bullet wound.”

“Nah, man.” Trey stepped up to the counter beside him and gripped it, leaning toward the mirror. “You’re the gun. You’re the one who is going to walk out there and shoot bullets at every receiver we’ve got.”

Josh thought about that for a moment. “We’re still talking metaphorically, right? Because I’m not licensed to carry.”

Trey punched his throwing arm and shook his head. “Wrong gun, man. Wrong gun.”

Josh followed him out into the main locker room, doing his best not to avoid eye contact.

His quarterback coach approached him with a stern face. “You ready for this, son?”

“Yeah.” He looked at his teammates who stood in a circle, waiting for Coach Jordan’s final pep talk. But their eyes weren’t on Coach Jordan. They were on him. “Let’s do this.”

A few guys nodded in acknowledgement. He saw one teammate’s shoulders release in a sigh of relief.

And all he could think, as they gathered shoulder pad to shoulder pad, knee to knee on the carpet with the Bobcats logo on it was . . .

I need Carri.

***

“Hey, Daddy.” Carri sank onto the couch beside her father, laptop in hand. She let the reclining leg rest pop up and started to open her Internet browser.

“I’m not changing the channel,” Herb warned her sharply. “The Bobcats’ first preseason game is on, and it’s staying on.”

“Got it.” Carri shrugged innocently, then blinked at her father’s attire. “Where in the world did that shirt come from?”

Herb looked down for a moment, then back up at her and blinked, emptiness in his eyes.

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